Flicker
by Greengirl011
Summary: Being stationed in the desert for over a year, Flicker is just now joining the rest of her Autobot comrades. Life on base is much different from the desert, join her as she figures out how to survive the chaos of the base. OC
1. Chapter 1

Being stationed in the desert for over a year, Flicker is just now joining the rest of her Autobot comrades. Life on base is much different from the desert, join her as she figures out how to survive the chaos of the base.

Chapter 1

A lone desert lizard scampered onto a smooth rock, soaking in the suns' rays. Its forked tongue poked out, as it looked around for any predators. Then a shadow pasted over it. Without a moments hesitation it ran down the rock to hide in a crevasse. As the shadow came closer to the ground a dull thud could be heard along with moving sand. The noise traveled away quickly, and the lizard slowly crawled back on to the rock to sun bathe.

The sun glittered off the few still shiny parts of your armor as you raced through the blazing desert land. Sand flew out behind your wheals while you roared up the side of a large dune turning at the last moment; nearly flipping you over and down the other side, to travel the crest. Bouncing along happily, you excelled faster for a large jump. Sailing across the blue sky you give a loud woot of joy. You would easily admit to any one that this was the most fun you'd had since the beginning of the war, maybe even your whole life.

Wide wheals landed on the shifting sand while the large shocks of your vehicle form made your chaise bob lightly. Laughing to yourself you cranked up the volume to a rock n' roll song as you zoomed along, enjoying your freedom.

Although you did still have a duty to complete for the Autobot cause, racing all over the place was in the job description. As a watch post you had the task of keeping a strong surveillance over the assigned area. You always tried your hardest to keep watch.

Suddenly your com unit gave out an annoying chirp of an incoming link. Almost unhappily you muted the music, and answered the communication link. "Blaster to Flicker" declared a deafening and cheery voice.

"This is Autobot Flicker reporting" you replied, regaining your joyful mood at Blasters voice.

"Hay Flick girl! How's the sun n' sand treating ya?"

"Pretty good. Most of my paint is still where it belongs. Although I do have a thick coat of sand on right now." You slowed down near a dune to stop and rest in the shade it created.

"Aw is our little girl all dirty?"

"Hay! I've told you before! I don't care that I am covered in dirt and the suns heat is wonderfully relaxing to ones cables." You defended.

"The suns fried your processor, and you've playin' in the dirt to long. If you ask me." He said going serious only for a moment. "Yep, something an't right, no femme likes to get dirty and most bots get massive processer aches from too much heat." He teased.

Your only reply was a sigh. "Well I guess we should down to business first, shouldn't we, Flick?"

"We should" was your slightly grumpy response.

"So have ya seen anything note able?"

"Nope"

"Any Cons?"

"Not a hint"

"Any landings?"

"None"

"A lost human?"

"Nada"

"A wounded animal?"

"Zero"

"A cloud?"

"All clear"

"Anything at all?" his last shred of hope for anything interesting that may have happened.

You paused for a second to think, "The sun set two minutes earlier than yesterday. Do you want me to send you images of it?"

"Sure!"

You sent him the images and the two of you spent some more time chatting about whatever popped into your processers. Because he was on duty, he did have to end the conversation after a while. As usual he didn't forget to add in the number of days you had till you were to return to headquarters.

The bot that was taking your place would be here in 9 days so you could show them ropes; and 11 days till you would leave the desert for the journey to base.

Rolling out of the dunes shadow you were stunned at how low the sun had sunk. How long had you talked to Blaster? Revving your engine at the lost chance to speed around, you hurried back to base. Across the dunes you flew as they shrank becoming a flat waste land. On the dry hard ground you reached speeds no human made buggy could reach, enjoying the wind over your frame.

A worn and weathered farm building came into view as you got closer. It had long ago been abandoned as the once fertile land became sand. It consisted of a large house, huge barn, and a water tank. When you had found the place it looked like a disaster zone: old fence pieces stuck out every were with rusty nails, the barn was filled with old manure and the bones of long dead animals, both the barn and the house's roofs were falling in, and the water tank couldn't hold water. Together it was a mess, and need a lot of work.

You didn't mind though, it was in a good place and it gave you something to do.

For the fence pieces you either put them back together or kept for repairs. The biggest problem by far was the barn. It took three days to remove the stalls, (which you still keep in the corner) and scrape the crud off the floor and outside the doors. It then took another two days to dig a hole down to the clay bed; gather enough clay for the roof and water tank, then push the crud from the barn in and cover it with sand. You fixed the water tank first so you could wash out the barn later.

You had come up with the idea to fix the water tank after researching how the humans' ancestors held onto water while in the desert. Clay jars was the most common answer. The water tank was simply a wood cylinder on a tower with an iron pipe coming out the side and down to the ground.

To start out you cut the pipe out of the tank, then tore the tank off the tower. Prying the boards off one end you turned them into a lid with the spare pieces from the fence. Cleaning the inside boards you took a detailed scan, then began to shape the clay so it fit in the cylinder. It seemed to take forever as your hands got clogged with clay and your claws would tear its soft body. Finally you pushed the iron pipe through the clay and sealed it in with a ring of clay around the pipe. Letting it bake in the sun for five days it hardened in that shape, and then you slid it into the wood cylinder so no one could tell the difference though you did chop the pipe so you could stand under it.

Patching up the roofs was simple; all you did was put the boards back into place and fill the cracks with clay. You fixed the human house although you had no use for it; you wanted it to look somewhat livable.

After the long and tiring process of cleaning the place up, you had made yourself a wonderful little place to call home, um…base.

Feel free to sent a message!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As you landed roughly on the other side of the sand dune the paved desert road came into sight. On it stood alone human and a bulky dark green mech. Transforming while still moving towards them, you jogged off the speed to stop on the black asphalt. "Solarcell" you said in greeting nodding your head at him, "and who mite you be?" You asked looking down at the dark haired human with goggles and a red bandana over his face.

The mech gave a rumble of laughter, "Flicker meet David Pine, David meet Flicker." The two of you exchanged a careful handshake.

"Nice ta meet ya" You couldn't identify the slight accent. David was a well muscled man standing at 5' 10'' and had a dark tan skin tone.

"I am sorry to tell you this but there are no human facilities, or water, and very little shelter out here." you stated calmly looking down at the human. Standing he was just below hip height, and at 13 feet yourself, you didn't stand high amongst the ranks

Solarcell laughed, and you glanced at him. "Flicker didn't Blaster tell you?" you shook your head. "Oh! Well Ratchet nearly blew a gasket when he found out you had been on earth for over a year and hadn't had a single check up, and the fact that you were out here by yourself didn't help his mode; so you're to report back to base as soon as possible. David is here on his governments' part and you will be taking him back to base with you."

You groaned holding your head, "Ratchet the Hatchet?"

"The one and only!" Your vents hissed; you'd be getting one pit of a tirade before leaving his medbay.

"Blaster probably laughing his aft off right now." You muttered to yourself, "I'll get even with him once Ratchet's done with me."

Finally exchanging tips of living in the desert and the quadrants of some possible bases that he could fit into, you said goodbye to Solarcell as he transformed into a large military hovercraft and drove out.

"So David, do you like music?" you questioned sitting down next to him. He looked up a little surprised. Sitting you were still a good foot taller than him.

"Loved it since I was little" with the bandana now around his neck and the goggles on his head, you saw the grin spread wide across his face.

"How about jumps, do you have any problem with me going off them?"

"The bigger the better!" he declared with a fist in the air.

Your engine rumbled with a chuckle, "We're going to get along great then." You told him happily, leaning forward as you shifted into your dune buggy alt. mode. To which David gave a whistle.

From research you did on the internet, you knew your alt. mode was drastically different from most buggies. The body and engine were well covered and hidden from sight with dirty black and orange armor, and the wheels, struts, and shocks were positioned well away from the body to give more handling and balance on uneven surfaces.

"I've never seen a buggy like this before." He circled your form, "did you make it up or is a concept buggy that I've never seen?" You shifted your wide tires nervously.

"A little bit of both, I hacked one of the companies that makes buggies and copied the layout plains. Then I modified them so it was more efficient." What would this human think of your actions?

"Nice!" He eagerly grabbed his two bags; stowed them in a covered compartment that your alt. mode had in the back, then strapped himself into the passenger seat. "Ready when you are," he said pulling the bandana almost up to the bridge of his nose and the goggles down.

"Wait a sec. here take this." You said popping open the small glove box.

"Wha'?"

Inside were two miniature headsets. David gently picked one up."So you can hear me and I can hear you over the wind and sand."

"K got it" he stated, wiggling the headset under the goggle band and bandana.

"Don't lose it! It took me a long time to make."

"Um . . . will do!" he shook his head to make sure it didn't fall out.

"Good, now were we . . ." and with that you put the pedal to the medal and speed off across the sands. David hollering in joy just as much as you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Um Flick . . . aren't ya going to use a road to get to base?" David questioned as you got closer to the mountain range that stood between you and main base.

"Nope! The quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line" you cheerily told him still moving closer.

"But dose that include mountains?"

"In this case. Yes"

"How are ya gon'a get over them?" he was a very curious human as you had found out over the last day and a half.

"Well there are some old trails that aren't used very much I can fit down and if I release some air from my tires I can handle most rocky slopes, and if all else fails I can transform and carry you a while."

"Fine by me, as long as ya don't drop me." He grimaced pulling his belt tighter.

Chuckling, the two of you continued merrily on your way. You did however have to stop a few times during your travels to let David out so he could relieve himself of waste and eat; he usually tried to do both during one stop.

Stopping for lunch; which consisted of a beef MRE, you tried to dislodge a clod of dirt that had found its way into your knee joint. After awhile you were growling in anger at the nasty little thing.

When you were at your desert base, you just washed them away with water, but now you didn't have that resource.

"Want some help?" David asked, sitting on a rock, munching on his food. You snapped straight, how could this little human help you? He watched you, watch him.

"Um. . . ."You looked down to your knee where you had scraped your own paint trying to dig the annoying clump of carbon molecules out.

"Here, lower it down" he told you as he set his half eaten MRE, on the rock and moved over towards you. You hesitantly complied, watching his every move. "Were is it?" You pointed to it as he lifted himself onto your thigh to get a better view. "Does it hurt?" his eyes conveyed concern for your situation.

"No," you had to pause to find the right wording; "It feels tight and it groans when I move it. Energon circulation to the area has been decreased and the joint will wear down faster than normal." David looked more closely at the interworking of your leg at your comment.

"I only know the bare minimum of how you guys work, and most of that is where the weak spots are so I know were to aim."

"Well the pink fluid is energon our life blood, blue is coolant, and the gray slimy is a lubricant similar to grease." You pointed out the lines in your leg so David could see.

"Ah and that brown thing is a clump of dirt?"

"If I had a cookie I'd give it to you" David turned to look at you with an eyebrow raised. "What? People online give each other virtual cookies as rewards." You tilted your head to the side in question.

"Oh never mind. Just don't move and I'll pull the clump out for you." Rolling up the sleeve of his right arm he reached in. "Ug," the face he made was one you had never seen a human do before it was the combination of a sneer and disgust. You shut down all movement to your leg to prevent a twitch or flinch from damaging the fragile human hand inside. "Uck" a thick gray and brown slime ball was tossed to the sand below. David climbed down holding his hand away from himself as it was coated in lubricant. After lots of sand rubbing and some quick drizzles of water; from his water bottle, he managed to get it all off.

"David do you think you could get another one out for me? You asked timidly. you didn't know how much you could ask of him.

Anger flared for a moment on his face, "And I just got th. . . ."

"Nonono this one's a rock and it's not in a joint so you won't get messy." You shook your hands in front of yourself. A human gesture you had seen once before when another had the wrong idea. "It's right here." You had moved yourself to lay down with your spinal relays face up with an arm bent to point to your upper back.

"What's this one like?" he asked curiously grabbing onto armor and support struts on your side to get onto your back. Then a snort of air escaped and your chaise vibrated. Slapping a servo over your face plate, you fought to stay still.

"What! What's the matter? Did I hit something? I 'am sorry! I'm so sorry!" his voice full of panic. David ran, jumping off your back, he scurried away from you as fast as he could.

Rolling over, you burst into laughter. "Tha. . . That . . . That tickled!" you gasped out, the feeling of David's hands and boots wouldn't leave you. The flabbergasted look on David's face just made you laugh harder. Soon David relaxed, and been gain to laugh in clear relief.

After a few minutes both of you managed to regain control of yourselves. "Want to try again?" you rolled over, so your back was up, "I promise not to move too much"

Once again David climbed onto your back, and you did your best to point out the rock. "Yikes! It looks like it's really wedged in there."

"Yea and it hurts too"

"Like?" he asked, grabbing the rock with a firm hold.

"A pinched nerve."

"I wouldn't be able to tell. You've been walking around like nothing was wrong." He grunted, pulling roughly on the rock.

"I shut down the sensors in the area so I could function normally, but it would be nice to get the thing out before Ratchet found it." To which David yanked harder.

"Try transforming slowly, maybe it will be easier to pull out."

Slowly, painstakingly slow you began to transform. David clung tightly to your back; one had still pulling on the rock. "GRRA!" and with a snap the two interlocking support bands fell into place and secured themselves.

Stopping and reversing your transformation sequence, David jumped off rock in hand. Shifting so you sat cross legged, you stretched and reactivated the sensors in your back. To your delight the area was only sore. "Thank you David, you have spared me the pain of Ratchet's fury."

With a laugh David sat down to finish his MRE." Hay it was the least I could do. You are the one driving me around."

"Still thank you." You said as you lay down to let the sun warm the length of your body. "Just let me know when you're ready."

Scanners on high you lazily waited for David to finish with his daily needs. Seven minutes later David gathered his things into his pack and made his way over to you. "Flick"

Rolling so you were on your hands and knees you transformed. David put his bag in the back, jumped in, and buckled up. Not waiting you took off through the desert, quietly playing a song .

Later, after the sun sank behind the mountains; and dark clouds filled the sky, you pulled under a rocky outcropping to rest for the rest of the night. "Hay Flick could ya scan the radio for the weather?" David was standing away from the outcropping; arms crossed, staring at the darkened sky. Doing as he asked, static and a mixture of voices spewed from the radio as you looked for the right channel.

"_This is not a test. BEEP! BEEP! To all listeners in the area, there is a severe weather warning. A thunder storm producing golf ball sized hail and 25 to 35 mile per hour winds is in the listening area. Be aware that heavy rainfall may create flashfloods, and mudslides. Warning there is a flashflood and mudslide watch for the entire listening area. BEEP! BEEP! This is n"_

You cut off the radio message as it began to repeat. "Shit" whispered David, moving back under the outcropping. Roughly grabbing his two packs; one was a backpack with MREs and the other a sleeping bag, he moved as far under the rock as he could get. "Flick, how far dose this rock extend into the mountain?" he asked digging at the dirt to make a flat spot.

Scanning it, not understanding why he wanted to know, you replied. "40 feet, why?" You crawled forward, and carved out a flat area for him in one swipe.

"Thanks," he mumbled unrolling his bag. "If there is a mudslide, most of it will be forced to the sides around the rock, and since the rock goes so deep into the earth it won't be going anywhere in the slide."

"I see" you could find the logic in that. "I am going to let base know we may be a little slow getting back." You made sure to still face David so your headlights would shine brightly on the flat spot so he could see.

"Good idea, we may even be a few days depending on how bad it is"

Tapping two fingers to your helm to boost transmission, you contacted base. "Flicker to base."

"Prowl here, is there a problem?"

"Somewhat sir, I am calling in to let base know, that the weather has forced us to take shelter so we may be delayed back to base."

"Very well then." A slight pause covered the line. "Also Ratchet insists that you are escorted back to base. Once you reach these quadrants contact base and someone will be sent out." Your sub-processor reworked your current route to include the meeting spot.

"Yes sir"

"Is that all?"

"Yes sir"

"Prowl out, see you when you arrive."

"See you then"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Refocusing on David you found him sitting cross legged on his sleeping bag, with only a new pair of camouflage shorts and his dog tags on. When you asked him before about changing before going into recharge, he said he was not sure way most humans did it, but his femme creator had told him it kept dirt out of his bead. He also claimed that less clothes was more comfortable during the pre storm humidity.

You did a little research on Earth weather while David rambled away trying to think of more reasons humans changed.

Suddenly and painfully your sensors flared, jerking your once relaxed systems into battle mode. Standing you searched the area franticly; trying to find the closest enemy. Your systems screamed at you to watch out and be ready to fight.

"FLICKER!" A male voice bellowed.

The canon that had once been your lower arm spun building charge, as you looked for the source.

"FLICKER! CALM DOWN! IT WAS JUST A LIGHTNING STRIKE!" you stepped forward, still trying to find the enemy.

"FLICKER! DOWN HERE!" you slowly looked down unsure if you'd be attacked once you took your optics away from scanning.

Standing right in front of your pads stood a human, with their hands held up.

"Just calm down." The human said attempting a clam voice although it was laced with fear. "It's ok Flick, it was just a lightning strike. There's nothing to get up in arms about."

You stood frozen, staring at the human; your battle ready processer staining to work out what it said.

"Everything is fine. No Cons, no nothing." The human repeated; stepping back, fighting to remain calm.

No it wasn't any human, it was David! You immediately took a step back and dismantled your canon to its original form. Hanging your head you fought to shut down your battle systems.

"I am sorry." You whispered, horrified at your actions and the possible outcomes. "My systems just came on so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to stop them." Sinking to your knees you let your aft rest on your pads as battle systems hummed in the back of your mind, and hundreds of scenarios played.

David was silent as he watched you, 'Post-traumatic stress,' he thought sourly to himself. 'It makes sense though; she's been fighting for so many years, hell all of them have been. . . .How many friends and family has she lost? Dose she even have any left? Maybe that's why she chose to stay in the desert so long, so she wouldn't risk getting close to anyone.' A deep frown marred his face. 'But, by having no one close, she has no one to fall back on.'

Then an almost vicious grin split his face. 'Don't worry Flick I'll help you.' Oh he could feel his little plan growing wildly in his mind, but he would have to tame it later, he had bigger fish to fry.

"Hay! Stop beating yourself up, about it." David call out, patting your thigh with his small hand. "No one was hurt and nothing was damaged, so all is good." By now David had crawled onto your lap to be more at optic level. "It was battle systems, right?" you nodded avoiding eye contact. "You should hear what Ironhide did to Will's place during a storm." David stood with his arms crossed smile on his face.

"Hu?" you looked at David curiously. You knew a little about Will Lexxon's status through Blaster's broadcasts; and Ironhide's reputation was known to all transformers.

"You know 'um?"

"Yea, Blaster told me about Will and everybot knows about Ironhide."

Chuckling David started his story,"Well when Ironhide first became the Lexxon guardian, Sarah had no idea that the big black truck her husband just brought home, was acutely a giant sentient alien. One night, old Hide was recharging in the garage while a storm moved in. Like you a nearby lightning strike activated his battle systems, and he burst out of the garage canons blazing. When he scanned around and found the garage in runes, he thought a Con tried to kill him while he was sleepin'. What he didn't realize was that he had destroyed the garage when he transformed."

"Took Will a half an hour just to get his attention, while the mech tried to find the nonexistent Con. Of course Sarah looked outside to see what Will was yelling at. So the secret got out, Will spent a week sleeping on the couch, and a month later Annabelle had Hide wrapped around her little finger."

With a large grin he finished with, "The End"

David had moved back to his sleeping bag once the rain had started to come down and you had pulled yourself as far under the rock as possible, while still covering David so the rain and wind didn't bother him too much.

"I still don't see the point." you flinched slightly at a lighting strike.

"My point is that you're not the only one. There are many other Autobots who are also still adjusting to Earth life. Yes, there are still a few fights every now and then, but for the most part Earth is your new home and it is peaceful." You focused completely on David, trying to figure out the true meaning of his words.

"I guess. . ."

Crossing his arms stubbornly, David finally declared "No guessing, and until you get used to Earth life I am sticking with you."

"No, you still have your own life. . . "

"Flicker, I m goin' a ask for you to be my guardian, so you have no excuse to stay away from the others." The headstrong human interrupted, now glaring at you.

Copping the man you crossed your arms and glared right back at him, but he didn't waver. Maybe he had a hard time seeing the defiance in your optics. "You know I may be small for a transformer, but I can still through you over the mountain."

"One of the first rules of being on Earth is: you must not harm humans."

"Oh just go into recharge. My scanners will be on to keep a lookout." Wiggling under the outcropping a little more. You lay down on your side, optics powered down, and an arm held out to provide a barrier against the rain for David.

"Night Flicker" the male mumbled crawling into his sleeping bag as the rain cooled the air.

"Goodnight David"

By keeping your scanners on you couldn't help but to notice than it took a good 15 minutes for David's heart and breathing to slow down; which was a lot longer than the other night. Watching the man you did not recharge, you just couldn't especially with the lightning still activating your over sensitive battle sensors.

Primus it was a long night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"David. . .David" you lightly poked the recharging human, "David wake up, time to go"

"nooo…five more minutes. . ."

"Ok"

Leaving David to his recharge, you took a closer look at the ground that was now in a semi-solid state. You set one of your servos on the ground further away from the overhang and watched as it sank into the mud. Shaking mud off your servo you stood up and took a carful step out.

You could feel yourself sink and slip downhill a little but it wasn't too bad and you quickly altered your balance wile leaning uphill.

Digging the heels of your pads into the mud, you scanned further up the mountain. Just as another wave of mud came rolling down; sweeping your pads out from under you.

"CLICK! BEEP! WEEEEEP!" Cybertronian curses flew from your vocalizer, as you slid down the mountain flopping around as you tried to grab hold of something. "Ugh!" lucky you wound up being caught by a tree.

You clung to the deep-rooted tree as the mud flowed around, over, and disturbing through you. It was absolutely the sickest sensation you had ever gone through. Every last part of you was coated in mud.

Finally the mudslide came to a stop and you pushed yourself up using the tree as support, mud falling from you in big globs, and your optic lenses swiped closed several times in attempt to clear off the mud.

You mumbled more chose words as you tried to pull your limbs out of the sucking mud. Pulling one limb out at time you finally freed yourself to make the long teak back up the mountainside.

By the time you made it back to David half an hour had pasted. And David was sitting under the overhang with all of his stuff packed.

A split second after he saw you David's face morphed through several stages: first his strained face melted into confusion, then from confusion back to a worried one, and finally to one of barely contained laughter.

He roared with laughter, when you lost your footing again falling face first into the mud again. Lucky you were able to grab a tree before sliding too far.

Growling you managed to make it the rest of the way up, where you decided it was time for a little revenge. Swiping the mud off your armor, you quickly shut him up.

Now it was your turn to snicker at David. The mud you had cleaned off your arm had been more than enough to cover him, and stop his laughter. Franticly wiping the brown goo off his face, the only thing you could see was the whites of his eyes, which were now glaring at you.

"Whoops! Sorry didn't see you there." You said cheerily. "Watch out I have to clear out some of this mud." You snickered at David as he dashed away; it wasn't like he could get any more mud covered.

With a small countdown to yourself, you flung open as much of your armor as possible and activated all possible vents. Mud was literally blown from your protoform. There was still a ton of the muck still stuck in you but at least the worst of it was out.

"I knew I should 'a just bit my cheek." David grumbled from where he was trying to clear off his coat of mud.

"Just leave it. I am already covered; anyways if we hurry we'll make it back to base by 3'oclock, and we can shower there." You said as you transformed.

"Fine, but I' m gona tell this to everyone back at base."

"If you do, I'll have to call on a favor Sunstreaker and Sideswipe owe me."

It was difficult to see through all the mud on David, but you managed to watch his face pale in fear. Good, that meant he knew what the twins were capable of with their pranks.


End file.
